Chapter Twenty-Seven: Trouble Comes Knocking

“So the Serpent Basin has this ability as well—what a bargain! My hundred thousand spirit energy wasn’t wasted after all.” The more Zhou Tian understood the powers of the Serpent Basin, the brighter the smile on his face became. Only after fully grasping its abilities did he put it away and mutter quietly to himself.

What exactly are the powers of the Serpent Basin? For now, that’s a secret.

As Zhou Tian exchanged and initially mastered this immortal artifact, the snake swarm, having received his command and finished exploring the surroundings, began to crawl back in batches.

Upon their return, aside from a few members bringing back some low-level demon cores, the rest had come back empty-handed.

Zhou Tian collected the demon cores, disregarded the snakes who returned without anything, and focused his attention on those who were visibly wounded.

“Did you encounter beasts you couldn’t handle?”

Hearing Zhou Tian’s question, the injured snakes quickly nodded, gesturing and hissing until he finally understood their meaning.

Had he not listened, Zhou Tian would have been unconcerned, but after hearing their account, his expression changed again and again.

He wasn’t surprised that the snakes got hurt after venturing out. Although this forest wasn’t home to any particularly powerful monsters, snakes have many natural enemies, and the swarm acted in scattered groups. Even if an entire batch perished, Zhou Tian wouldn’t have been surprised.

What he hadn’t anticipated was that the setback didn’t come from magical beasts, but rather from “acquaintances” of his.

The inevitable had arrived. Zhou Tian had thought that by hiding in this remote place, he could avoid the war between the beastmen and the elves. Yet he hadn’t considered that, under the chaotic struggle among the Empire of Ice and Snow, the Elven Empire, and the Beastmen Empire, anywhere within their borders would inevitably be affected.

When Zhou Tian was teleported to the Beastmen Empire, he wasn’t alone—a group of elves and a white tiger came as well. Although they weren’t teleported to the same place, since they came from the same batch, the distances between them weren’t very far.

Moreover, both Zhou Tian and the elves were trying to avoid the beastmen, so their paths were likely similar. The forest Zhou Tian was hiding in was deserted and, for elves, the terrain brought out their greatest strengths. So when a few elves suddenly appeared in this forest, Zhou Tian was at first surprised, but soon accepted the reality.

“You’re lucky. If you hadn’t met elves this time, none of you would have made it back alive.” He whispered to the injured snakes, then summoned the Serpent Basin and ordered the entire swarm to enter.

The Serpent Basin wasn’t a spatial artifact, but for snakes, it could house not just ten thousand, but even a million snakes. Once inside, all snakes lost their consciousness and began to reproduce and evolve at a rate a hundred times faster than in the outside world.

Though Zhou Tian’s snake swarm was still weak, with the help of the Serpent Basin, he was confident that the next time he summoned them, they would be far more formidable allies than mere helpers.

Having secured the Serpent Basin, Zhou Tian wasted no time and crawled away from the area.

To seek out the elves?

What a joke! Zhou Tian had no intention of walking into a trap. Even though, at this point, he and the elves were barely considered companions, the beastmen hadn’t brought the elves to their territory for sightseeing. Even if their real plan hadn’t yet been revealed, Zhou Tian could guess that the elves were facing a deadly ambush meticulously prepared by the beastmen.

It wasn’t that all the elves were doomed, but their chances of escaping the beastmen’s encirclement alive were slim. By contrast, Zhou Tian was much safer—the beastmen’s original targets didn’t include him. Those who had witnessed Zhou Tian’s abilities were all dead, so as long as he stayed out of sight, the beastmen wouldn’t know they had another enemy.

Eliminating the elves would certainly be the best option for Zhou Tian, but he could never bring himself to harm a group of allied women. After much consideration, he decided he couldn’t stay with the elves and thus chose to avoid them.

“Just my luck! Trouble finds me even when I’m sitting at home. This time, I’ll run farther—if I don’t encounter any elves, I might as well find a secluded spot and become the Serpent King.” With a quiet complaint, Zhou Tian crawled toward the forest’s edge.

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Whoosh~

“There’s an ambush!” As the sound of arrows whistled through the air, the thought barely flashed through Zhou Tian’s mind before several holes were punched into his body.

“Damn it! That hurts!” Hit by so many arrows at once, Zhou Tian, who rarely suffered injuries, let out a furious roar. As soon as he realized what had happened, he didn’t dare linger—slapping the ground, he launched himself back into the forest, giving the beastmen no chance for a second attack.

“Huh~ Didn’t expect that snake to have some skill, not dead yet. No matter, it’s not our target anyway. If it escaped, so be it.” Seeing Zhou Tian’s reaction, a beastman general was mildly surprised, then immediately ordered his troops, “Keep searching. The commander has decreed: anyone who captures an elf will be promoted three ranks!”

“Yes!” Regardless of their motivations, the beastman soldiers responded enthusiastically. As soon as their general finished speaking, they shouted in unison with great vigor.

“Idiots, don’t shout! Are you trying to alert the elves that we’re searching for them here?”